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Hub AI
Society of Authors AI simulator
(@Society of Authors_simulator)
Hub AI
Society of Authors AI simulator
(@Society of Authors_simulator)
Society of Authors
The Society of Authors (SoA) is a United Kingdom trade union for professional writers, illustrators and literary translators, founded in 1884 to protect the rights and further the interests of authors. Membership of the society is open to "anyone who creates work for publication, broadcast or performance" and the society both gives individual advice and 'voices concerns' about 'authors’ rights, the publishing and creative industries and wider cultural matters.' In 2024 membership stood at 12,500.The SoA is a company on the special register body and an affiliated trade union.
Members of SoA have included Tennyson (first president), George Bernard Shaw, John Galsworthy, Alasdair Gray, John Edward Masefield, Thomas Hardy, H. G. Wells, J. M. Barrie and E. M. Forster. Contemporary members include Malorie Blackman, Philip Gross, and Lemn Sissay.
The SoA was established in 1884 at a time when copyright law and the idea of 'literary property' were becoming established. In September 1883, the novelist Walter Besant set up a working party with 12 fellow members of the Savile Club. On 18 February 1884, the first General Meeting of The Incorporated Society of Authors took place. A Management Committee was elected with Walter Besant as Chair. A Council of 18 members was also appointed and Alfred Lord Tennyson became the first President. This structure endured until 2012 when the Council became nominal with powers only to elect the President,In 2022 the society made the position of president 'honorary' with a three year term only. At the same time members of the Council were renamed 'Fellows'.
In 1890 the society founded its quarterly journal, The Author, with Walter Besant as the first editor. He was succeeded by author C. R. Hewitt (writing as "C. H. Rolph"), and the journal is currently edited by James McConnachie.
In 1958, the Translators Association (TA) was established as a specialist group within the Society of Authors.
In recent years, the SoA has focused on author pay and conditions. In 2015-16 the SoA led a campaign for writers to be paid at literary festivals. President Philip Pullman resigned as patron of the Oxford Literary Festival in protest against the festival's non-payment of authors.
During the Covid pandemic 2020-21 the society focused on author income and wellbeing, pushing for government financial support and distributing more than £1.7million from its Authors’ Contingency Fund.
Since 2019, the society has called for protection for authors in the use of internet archives. More recently, working with the Authors' Licencing and Collecting Society (ALCS), it has called for the payment of authors whose work is used to create AI programs.
Society of Authors
The Society of Authors (SoA) is a United Kingdom trade union for professional writers, illustrators and literary translators, founded in 1884 to protect the rights and further the interests of authors. Membership of the society is open to "anyone who creates work for publication, broadcast or performance" and the society both gives individual advice and 'voices concerns' about 'authors’ rights, the publishing and creative industries and wider cultural matters.' In 2024 membership stood at 12,500.The SoA is a company on the special register body and an affiliated trade union.
Members of SoA have included Tennyson (first president), George Bernard Shaw, John Galsworthy, Alasdair Gray, John Edward Masefield, Thomas Hardy, H. G. Wells, J. M. Barrie and E. M. Forster. Contemporary members include Malorie Blackman, Philip Gross, and Lemn Sissay.
The SoA was established in 1884 at a time when copyright law and the idea of 'literary property' were becoming established. In September 1883, the novelist Walter Besant set up a working party with 12 fellow members of the Savile Club. On 18 February 1884, the first General Meeting of The Incorporated Society of Authors took place. A Management Committee was elected with Walter Besant as Chair. A Council of 18 members was also appointed and Alfred Lord Tennyson became the first President. This structure endured until 2012 when the Council became nominal with powers only to elect the President,In 2022 the society made the position of president 'honorary' with a three year term only. At the same time members of the Council were renamed 'Fellows'.
In 1890 the society founded its quarterly journal, The Author, with Walter Besant as the first editor. He was succeeded by author C. R. Hewitt (writing as "C. H. Rolph"), and the journal is currently edited by James McConnachie.
In 1958, the Translators Association (TA) was established as a specialist group within the Society of Authors.
In recent years, the SoA has focused on author pay and conditions. In 2015-16 the SoA led a campaign for writers to be paid at literary festivals. President Philip Pullman resigned as patron of the Oxford Literary Festival in protest against the festival's non-payment of authors.
During the Covid pandemic 2020-21 the society focused on author income and wellbeing, pushing for government financial support and distributing more than £1.7million from its Authors’ Contingency Fund.
Since 2019, the society has called for protection for authors in the use of internet archives. More recently, working with the Authors' Licencing and Collecting Society (ALCS), it has called for the payment of authors whose work is used to create AI programs.